The present disclosure is related to care systems that distribute computing power between multiple components of the system. More specifically, the present disclosure is related to a system which permits a mobile computing device to act as a user interface for a patient support apparatus and transfer computing requirements for the patient support apparatus to a remote server to reduce the processing load on the patient support apparatus.
The present disclosure also relates to medical equipment, such as hospital beds, and particularly to a universal caregiver interface that is used to control multiple pieces of medical equipment. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to wall mounted and portable universal caregiver interfaces.
As patient support systems, such as hospital beds with therapy mattresses become more complex, the computing power required to operate the systems expands. Certain aspects of the computing power are associated with critical or safety related functions of the patient support system. Other aspects are non-critical, such that completion of the processing will not affect the safety of the patient supported on the patient support system. All aspects of the software of a patient support system are subject to stringent safety standards, even those that are non-critical. This results in resources being consumed to qualify non-critical software as meeting safety related standards.
Furthermore, as the functionality of the patient support systems expands, the concern with interference by non-qualified individuals with the delivery of therapy by the patient support systems grows. A balance between the ease of use for a caregiver and the inability of a non-caregiver to access therapy data is an important part of the development of user interfaces for patient support systems and patient support surfaces.
In the healthcare setting, caregivers come into contact with a wide variety of patient care devices such as hospital beds, patient lifts, intravenous (IV) pumps, vital signs monitors, therapy delivery devices, and so forth. To control each of these patient care devices, caregivers must touch or otherwise contact user inputs such as buttons, knobs, and touch screens, of each individual patient care device. Caregivers also touch other types of equipment found in a patient room environment such as window blinds, thermostats, and light switches.
Each time a caregiver contacts a surface in a patient room, there is a risk that the caregiver becomes contaminated with germs or bacteria and there is a risk that the caregiver contaminates the surface with germs or bacteria. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to reduce the number of surfaces that a caregiver needs to contact in order to control multiple pieces of equipment in a patient room environment.
Various pieces of patient care devices generate a wide variety of patient data and device data. Typically, when a caregiver is in a patient room, the caregiver will have to move from device to device to view the desired data. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to have data from various patient care devices viewable on a single display screen.
Some procedures within a patient room involve the use of multiple patient care devices or room environment devices. For example, during patient transfer from a hospital bed to a stretcher, a patient lift is sometimes used. As another example, when a patient is discharged from a patient room, a scale system of the bed should be zeroed, the window blinds should be opened, and a patient lift should be moved back into a storage cabinet. Accordingly, it would be beneficial for caregivers to be able to control multiple pieces of equipment simultaneously.